


Overgrown

by Inkandquills, writersstudy



Series: Inktober 2019 [14]
Category: NU'EST
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, In chapter 1, In chapter 2, Inktober 2019, M/M, Property Damage, breaking up, heights, jron are kinda assholes, unhealthy relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 15:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21038564
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkandquills/pseuds/Inkandquills, https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Inktober 2019, Day 14!Prompt: OvergrownGroup: NU'ESTPair: Baekho/RenA: Minki had had enough.M: Minki had gone searching for answers but he found so much more.[[PLEASE NOTE THAT WE, THE AUTHORS, HAVE NOT GIVEN PERMISSION FOR THIS WORK TO BE RE-POSTED ANYWHERE EXCEPT DIRECTLY ON AO3. IF YOU SEE THIS WORK ANYWHERE ELSE, PLEASE REPORT IT FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AND NOTIFY US AT LIVING.LENIENTLY@GMAIL.COM. THANK YOU.]]





	1. Ashlee

Rain lashed the windows of the train car. Minki’s head was laying on the window, eyes staring out into the inky black as his fingers fiddled with the collar of his turtleneck. In the distance, he could see the bright lights of Seoul growing closer. He glanced up as an announcement crackled over the speakers on the train, stating that they were half an hour from their destination. With a heavy sigh, he picked up his phone to text Jonghyun. Still nothing.

Minki could claim that he hadn’t been planning this, but that simply wasn’t true. He loved Dongho to the ends of the earth, but it had become clear over the last few months that that love wasn’t being reciprocated anymore. The older man had even told him so in an argument the week earlier, but Minki was trying not to think about that right now. He had cried enough.

When the train finally pulled into the station, Minki grabbed his suitcase and pulled it behind him. The rain had stopped, but the platform was still damp. He turned when he heard his name and found Jonghyun standing near the stairs. His friend didn’t say anything when he approached, merely wrapping him in a tight hug. Minki stiffened subconsciously, not used to anyone’s touch but Dongho’s.

“Are you alright?” Jonghyun asked softly.

“I will be,” Minki replied. The older man took his suitcase and they both walked out of the station to his car. Minki was going to be staying with him until he found a job and an apartment of his own. Jonghyun had offered for Minki to just move in with him, but Minki didn’t want to disturb him and Youngmin any longer than he needed to. It would probably take him a bit to find a job, though, since he had a five year gap in his resume.

When they got to Jonghyun and Youngmin’s shared apartment, Jonghyun helped Minki carry his things upstairs and set him up in the guest room. Minki made himself a mug of tea then holed himself up in bed. He missed Dongho already. Now that he was alone and settled, he couldn’t help but think about the argument.

_ Minki groaned as the slamming of a door woke him up. A glance at the clock told him it was well into the early hours of the morning. Was Dongho just getting home now? A few minutes later, the bedroom door creaked open, revealing his boyfriend. _

_ “Baby,” the older man slurred tiredly, “come here, I miss you.” Minki turned on the bedside lamp and crossed his arms. _

_ “Where have you been?” he asked. _

_ “I had a meeting, baby, you knew that,” Dongho said, hands coming up to sloppily unbutton his shirt. _

_ “Your meeting ended four hours ago,” Minki said, cocking an eyebrow. Dongho rolled his eyes. _

_ “You know we shoot the shit afterwards, Min, it’s not a big deal,” he said dismissively. _

_ “Not a big deal?” Minki questioned, starting to get angry now, “Dongho, I haven’t gone to bed with you in months. I feel like I haven’t even seen you in months. You say you miss me, but you’re the one that’s always out with the guys or pulling late hours at the office.” _

_ “Minki, you knew this would happen when I took the promotion,” Dongho said. _

_ “No. You told me the promotion meant more hours; I thought that meant you’d be home at eight instead of six, which is fine. What’s not fine is you getting out of work at seven thirty and going to the bar with your work buddies instead of coming home or even letting me know you’ll be somewhere else,” Minki said, “you act like this, us, doesn’t even matter to you anymore.” _

_ “What the hell am I supposed to do?” Dongho asked, “you know if I don’t go to these things, I’ll be seen as less dedicated and not get offered any more promotions.” _

_ “We’re comfortable,” Minki argued, “we’re stable. You don’t need to work yourself to death for another promotion to support us, babe. We’re okay.” _

_ “And what if I want those promotions for myself?” Dongho asked crossly, “my career decisions don’t revolve around our relationship.” That made Minki pause. _

_ “Well, then you’re choosing your career over your partner,” he said slowly, “and Dongho, you know I would never ask you to quit or change jobs or not take a promotion for me, but you have to understand how that looks to me.” _

_ “I’d be an idiot if I didn’t,” Dongho muttered, dumping his clothes in the hamper and looking through his dresser for suitable bedwear.  _

_ “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Minki asked hotly. _

_ “My career is permanent. Everything I do or don’t do, do or don’t take, is going to affect what I can do five or ten years down the road. A career is for good, a relationship isn’t,” Dongho said, as if it was the simplest thing in the world. He got into bed, kissing Minki on the cheek, and shut the light off, asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow. _

Minki had gone to sleep on the couch for the rest of that night, and had called Jonghyun as soon as it was socially appropriate. He couldn’t believe that Dongho was so blase about their relationship. Minki had uprooted his entire life, had left a job he loved and his entire family, to support Dongho in his career advancements, but this was too much. He hadn’t agreed to being pushed aside like this. He would always support his boyfriend in his endeavors, but not when it was hurting both of them in the process. 

Minki had given Dongho one last chance, by delaying his departure as long as he could, but it was soon clear that his boyfriend had made his choice. He’d been kind enough to leave a note, just so Dongho knew he hadn’t been abducted or gone missing. The older man would know where to find him if he wanted to talk. 

The next few days were rough for Minki. He hadn’t heard anything from Dongho at all, nor had the man made any attempts to show up and talk to him. He had been idly looking at jobs and apartments, but most of the week was just spent holed up in his room. There were hundreds of pictures and videos of him and Dongho on his phone, some from back when they’d first started dating during college. It made him sad to watch all of those old videos, but he couldn’t stop himself.

He only finally managed to drag himself out of bed a week after he’d arrived. He took a long hot shower and got dressed in clean sweatpants and an oversized sweater. He decided to leave the stubble growing on his chin for now, not having the energy to shave, and shuffled his way into the kitchen for food. Jonghyun and Youngmin, to their credit, had given him his space. They stayed in the living room watching dramas while he made himself some cup ramen. It wasn’t proper food, but it was the closest thing to healthy or filling that he’d eaten all week.

Minki had just sat down at the table to wait for his ramen to cook when there was a knock at the door. He couldn’t distinguish the voices until he heard Jonghyun’s voice raise.

“We told you that he doesn’t want to see you!” he said sternly, “ _ go home _ , Dongho.” Minki peeked his head around the corner and into the living room. His eyes widened when he saw Dongho in the door frame, looking smaller than he’d ever seen him.

“I can’t do that,” his boyfriend was arguing, “I have to at least see him and apologize. If he still wants me to go, I will, but I need to hear it from him, not you. Why would he ask me to find him if he was just going to turn me away?” 

“People change their minds,” Jonghyun said stiffly, “you have  _ never _ been good for him and I’m just glad that he’s finally seeing that.” 

“How  _ dare _ you?” Minki asked, finally stepping into the room. All three men stared at him in shock.

“Minki, I - ” Jonghyun started, but Minki cut him off.

“No, you shut up,” he said sharply, “I have been sitting here, miserable and crying, for a week and you had the  _ audacity _ to turn him away knowing that would make it worse? You let me think he had dropped me like nothing when he was here the  _ entire _ time? And you, Youngmin hyung, letting him do that to me? Shame on both of you. And you,” he finally turned his attention to Dongho, “why the hell didn’t you just  _ text me _ ?”

“I didn’t want to harass you,” the older man said sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck, “you asked for space and I didn’t want to encroach by pestering you more than once a day. I didn’t even realize that you may not even know until last night.” 

“Look, we’re just gonna go,” Jonghyun said, grabbing his and Youngmin’s jackets from the hook near the door, “you two sort out what you need to say and let me know when it’s safe to come back.” With that, he and Youngmin turned tail and left like cowards, Minki glaring after them.

“Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to come in?” he asked, finally turning to Dongho. The older man stepped into the apartment, closing the door carefully. He stood there awkwardly, ringing his hands.

“Are you going to say anything?” Minki demanded, crossing his arms. Had Dongho really come all this way and put in this effort just to clam up when it mattered most? He scoffed, rolling his eyes. Of course he had. 

“Minki, I’m  _ so  _ sorry,” Dongho said, voice stricken, “I know there’s nothing I can say that could ever make up for the way I’ve been treating you recently and I just want you to know how sorry I am that I did that to you. I should’ve been open and honest with you about what I was trying to do and what I’ve been working toward.” 

“What  _ have  _ you been working toward if it’s not destroying our entire relationship?” Minki asked. 

“Another promotion,” Dongho said quietly, “one that would have sent me back here, back to Seoul. I know how miserable you’ve been living all the way out there, but I also knew you’d feel guilty if I left my job and moved back to Seoul because of it, so I figured I’d work harder and get the promotion and then you’d have nothing to feel guilty over.” Minki couldn’t even argue with the logic of that. Dongho was right; he would have felt overwhelmingly guilty if his boyfriend left the job he loved just because Minki had a little separation anxiety. 

“I shouldn’t have hid it from you,” Dongho said regretfully, “or let you believe that I was blowing you off for a couple of meaningless coworkers. You are worth so much more to me than that.”

“You told me that your job was permanent and I wasn’t,” Minki said, still accusatory but not as harsh. Dongho sighed and hung his head.

“I did,” he acknowledged, “it was a deflection and a really horrible one at that. Baby, I would choose you over some stupid job any day. The things I would do for your happiness...you really have no idea.” His hands twitched, like he wanted to reach out and touch Minki but was worried that Minki would pull away.

“Was it worth it?” Minki asked, searching Dongho’s face.

“Well, I got the job,” Dongho said humorlessly, “they even let me go home early to celebrate with you but you...you were gone. You were gone and I have never felt a greater pain in my life because I knew it was all my fault. The promotion is just going to mean more work and more time away from and I should have been spending all that time helping you be happy instead of going behind your back to do something so superficial. I was supposed to go in the next morning to sign all the contracts and I turned it down. I quit, actually. The upwards mobility isn’t worth it if you’re going to suffer in the process. I wasn’t working for me or trying to get promoted for me and it wasn’t until I lost you that I realized that it wasn’t what you wanted either. I wasn’t even happy there. The work sucked, my coworkers sucked, my bosses sucked, and I never got to see you. It  _ sucked _ and I’m glad I’m finally out of there, but I’m sorry it took so long and you getting hurt for me to realize it.” Tears had gathered in Minki’s eyes. He had been so distraught by his own pain that he hadn’t even considered that maybe Dongho wasn’t happy either. With a hiccuped sob, he all but tossed himself at Dongho, wrapping around his middle. Dongho’s hands instinctively cupped under his thighs and lifted Minki up. The younger man’s legs wrapped around his waist and he buried his face in Dongho’s shoulder. Dongho held him tightly and carried him to the guest room, kicking the door closed behind them and setting Minki down carefully on the bed.

“I love you so much, I’m so sorry,” the younger man gasped, pulling his head from Dongho’s shoulder to cup the older man’s face instead.

“You have nothing to apologize for, my love,” Dongho said, leaning forward and kissing Minki softly, “the fault is all mine.” He kissed Minki again and the younger man was reminded why he loved Dongho so much in the first place: because, at the end of the day, the older man was all he needed to be happy. They could be homeless under a bridge and Minki would be happy as long as Dongho was there with him. 

Dongho eventually settled next to Minki, kicking off his shoes and joining his boyfriend under the blanket. They talked for a while, quietly discussing what their next moves would be in terms of work and moving to Seoul, but it soon became clear that Minki was exhausted. The last thing he heard as he drifted off to sleep was a whispered “I love you.” 


	2. Michelle

Minki had heard enough stories throughout his life that he wasn’t surprised when a large beanstalk suddenly began growing in his backyard. What did surprise him, however, was how the beanstalk had ended up on his property. He hadn’t made a deal with a cryptic munk in the marketplace, hadn’t begged a witch for a good harvest, hadn’t even tried to trade crops for mysterious seeds. Yet for some reason a beanstalk, strikingly similar to the one in all of the legends, had grown high into the clouds in the middle of his backyard. When Jonghyun returned home later that evening he had demanded an explanation that Minki simply did not have. The beanstalk had destroyed a large part of their field, ruining countless crops that could not have afforded to lose. 

“Cut it down,” Jonghyun had demand before he stalked into the house. “And I don’t want to see your face until it’s done.” All Minki could do was nod and grab a scythe. It was the sharpest tool they had on the farm and even after a few swings, it had barely made a dent in the large stalk. Minki abandoned the tool for a large axe, hoping a more powerful tool would make a different. But unfortunately it did not. Dusk was rapidly approaching and Minki was no closer to cutting the stalk down than when he started. With a huff, he tossed the axe to the side, and took a hard seat on the ground. He wiped his brow as he leaned back against the large stalk. There was no way he was going to be able to cut this down, especially by morning. Maybe he could burn it down. Minki leapt to his feet and grabbed some twigs lying around the lawn and some flint. After a few moments, he had a stick burning like a torch and he brought it to the stalk. The flames bounced off the waxy coating of the plant, not even causing it to melt. Minki let out a frustrated yell before dunking the stick in a bucket of water. He walked back to the base of what could only be described as an overgrown tree, and stared upwards. He couldn’t see the top threw the clouds that hung in the sky but it couldn’t be that far up. Maybe there was a way to destroy the stalk from the top. Since Minki had nothing to lose, he decided he would climb to the top and investigate a way to destroy the stalk that had destroyed so many of their crops. Ducking into the house as quietly as possible, Minki grabbed a small piece of bread and a hunk of cheese and shoved them into his pockets. He also grabbed his water skin to fill in the well outside. He wasn’t sure when he would be back but he didn’t want to take too much. He slipped out of the house as quietly as he had come in. With one last look over his shoulder, Minki began the long and tedious climb. He wanted to get to the top before the sun came up but his plan was completely foiled. Luckily the branches were so thick that he was able to lay down on a flat piece and go to sleep. He was awoken in the morning to Jonghyun’s shouts far below him. He wanted to yell down to the older man, to assure him that everything was okay, but he couldn’t waste his progress now. Instead, he stood up, slung his waterskin over his shoulder and kept climbing. It was mid afternoon and his arms were on fire by the time Minki finally reached the top, but he did it. He collapsed onto the soft dirt, chest heaving. He was basking in the sun trying to catch his breath before he got up to explore. A few moments later a shadow fell over him. Minki scrambled to his feet and came face to face with a man who did not look very happy to see him. A man? Not even one taller than himself? That didn’t make sense. There were supposed to be giants roaming this city in the sky, not more people. Before he could open his mouth to ask, the man was speaking. 

“Who are you?” the stranger asked flatly. 

“M-Minki,” he stuttered out. He took a few steps backwards. A small part of his mind was worried he would get pushed off the edge of the cliff but the man didn’t look menacing enough to do something like that.

“And what are you doing up here?” the man asked next. 

“I-I just needed to figure out how to cut this stalk down. It’s ruining our fields and we can’t afford to lose this many crops next year,” Minki explained. 

“That’s not a good enough reason for you to be up here,” the man snarled. Minki took another few steps back and froze when his foot hit the edge of the cliff.

“Youngmin hyung, leave him alone!” a new voice called. Minki tore his eyes away from Youngmin to land on another, stockier man who had joined them. 

“I didn’t mean to cause any problems,” Minki said quickly.

“You want to destroy our home,” Youngmin snarked. Minki opened his mouth to explain himself, but the second man intervened. 

“I’ll handle this, hyung,” he said, shoving the man in the opposite direction. The older man glared at Minki before slowly stalking away.

“I’m sorry. We aren’t really use to strangers showing up here,” he apologized, “I’m Dongho, and you are?”

“You aren’t giants,” Minki blurted out before he could help himself. Dongho couldn’t help but laugh at that.

“You really believe all those stories? Oh what else did they tell you? That we’d cook you and eat you?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Maybe,” Minki mumbled. He wrapped his arms around himself and watched the new man cautiously. Dongho chuckled.

“Well none of them are true,” he assured, “now come here before you fall.” He extended a hand to help Minki off of the top of the stalk. Minki hesitantly reached out and let the shorter man guide him to safety. He finally braved looking into the town in front of him and was shocked to see that it stretched well beyond the eye could see, with beautiful homes and rolling green fields.

“It’s gorgeous up here,” he breathed. Dongho smiled proudly.

“It took a long time to create this,” he said, “would you like me to show you around?” Minki nodded eagerly, not evening noticing that they’re fingers were still intertwined. Dongho should him the city center, with its gorgeous fountain, all the way to the many farms, with acres and acres of fields spreading out behind them. They were well above the clouds now which meant there was nothing to block out the sun. 

“It’s all so beautiful,” Minki commented on their walk back towards the city.

“Is it not like this down below?” Dongho asked curiously. Minki scoffed and shook his head.

“It isn’t nearly this green and it’s nowhere near as prosperous. And the people aren’t particularly friendly,” he explained. It suddenly dawned on him how disheveled his clothing was and he tried to smooth out some of the wrinkles with his free hand. Everything was so pristine up in this city in the sky and Minki knew he must look completely out of place. He slipped his hand out of Dongho’s suddenly remembering how dirty it much be from the climb up. He tried to ignore the way the shorter man’s face fell.

“So what do you need the stalks for if you never come down?” he asked quietly. 

“Well we’ve been needing to grow our city for a little while now and every time we need to expand we have to plant new stalks as supports. Consider them almost like the foundation to our home,” Dongho explained. 

“Oh,” Minki mumbled in a small voice, “so they can never come down once they’re planted?”

“No, our whole city would collapse if we removed any of them. We are in the process of planting more now and when we’re done, we’re going to start building new homes,” Dongho explained. Minki could hear in his voice how excited he was for their city to be growing but he couldn’t even pretend to be excited. Their farm had been permanently destroyed and there were no other options for them. They didn’t have anymore land they could convert to fields and they didn’t have enough money to move, even if they did sell the farm. 

“Thank you for showing me around,” he said in a small voice. He started walking back to the stalk he had spent most of the day climbing. The sun was starting to set now and the stars were beginning to peek out but all Minki was worried about was getting home before the morning.

“Wait, why are you leaving so soon?” Dongho asked, rushing after the taller man and grabbing his hand again.

“I need to get home. My friend is waiting for me,” Minki said quietly. Jonghyun wasn’t going to be happy at all and he wasn’t even entirely sure his friend would want to see him again after his unsuccessful trip.

“You don’t sound happy about,” Dongho commented. Minki sighed sadly.

“The real reason I climbed up here was because the stalk I climbed was planted right in the middle of our most productive field and we can’t afford to lose that many crops so I was hoping there would be some way to get rid of it. I don’t know what we’re going to do if we lose this much harvest this year. We might be able to keep the farm for one more year but we would get kicked off after that. And Jonghyun hyung has been trying to save enough money to get married and bring his boyfriend to the farm but that’s not going to happen now. And we don’t have much more livestock we can sell off,” Minki rambled. 

“I can move the stalk,” Dongho said. Minki paused and looked at the man through glassy eyes.

“But you just said they can’t be moved,” he said, slightly confused.

“Once we have built on them, but we haven’t done that yet. Come on, I’ll show you,” Dongho said. He led Minki over to the edge of the cliff they were going to build. He slowly stretch out a hand and concentrated on slowly removing the stalk from the middle of the field and moving it to occupy some barren land a little ways away. 

“You’re field will be restored in the morning. There’s not much I can do about the crops but you’ll be able to grow more next season,” he said. Minki gasped and before he could stop himself, he leapt into Dongho’s arms and hugged the man tightly.

“Thank you so much,” he said happily. Once he had realized what he had done he sheepishly pulled himself away, mumbling a small apology. By this point the sun was well below the clouds and it was getting dark. He wouldn’t be able to see much and he didn’t want to make the whole dangerous descent at this hour. 

“You don’t have to leave now you know,” Dongho said carefully.

“I slept halfway up last night, I’m sure I can do it again,” Minki said. He was hungry and knew he would be warmer in the tree than just lying in the dirt. 

“You could spend the night here. With me,” Dongho said, “it’s warmer and you look like you could use a hot bath and some food.” Minki couldn’t argue with that.

“If you’re sure,” he said. He glanced at Dongho and smiled gratefully.

“Of course I’m sure,” Dongho said. He guided Minki through the town once again. They shared a meal, a quick bath, and even the bed. When Minki woke up the next morning and watched the sunrise with Dongho, he knew he had found so much more than the answers to his questions and the solution to his problems. He had found home. 


End file.
